Joliet Central High School

Joliet Central High School
Address
201 East Jefferson Street Joliet, Illinois 60432 USA
Information
School type	public secondary
Opened	1901
School district	Joliet Twp. HS 204
Superintendent	Dr. Cheryl McCarthy
Principal	Shad Hallihan
Grades	9–12
Gender	coed
Enrollment	2,762
Average class size	18.8
Campus type	urban
Color(s)	royal blue      gold
Athletics conference	Southwest Suburban Conference
Team name	Steelmen/Steelwomen
Average ACT scores	18.1
Newspaper	JTC Journal
Website	www.jths.org/central
Joliet Township High School
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	201 E. Jefferson St., Joliet, Illinois
Coordinates
Area	3.6 acres (1.5 ha)
Built	1901
Architectural style	Other, collegiate Gothic
NRHP Reference #	82002604
Added to NRHP	August 12, 1982

Joliet Central High School is a public secondary school located in Joliet, Illinois. Central is part of Joliet Township High Schools, along with Joliet West and Joliet East (now defunct). Before the opening of Joliet East and West, the school was called Joliet Township High School. In 1993, when Joliet Central and Joliet West combined many of their athletic and other competitive extracurricular programs, the combined program took the old "Joliet Township" name.

In 1982, the school building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building was designed by Frank Shaver Allen.

The school's notable alumni have gone on to careers in fields from arts and letters to science and technology.

Building

The school is four stories tall, two city blocks long, and includes four separate buildings. The campus underwent a moderate expansion during 2005 when the old shop building was knocked down and a new building was erected in its place. A catwalk connects the main building to the T&I building and allows students to cross unencumbered during inclement weather. The facilities include a daycare center (on the ground floor of the Little Theater building), a planetarium, six tennis courts, one soccer field, four baseball fields, a 1/16-mile indoor track and a 1/4-mile track across the street to the east.

There is an historical display on the second floor near the South Entrance that is maintained by the Joliet Central Historical Society. Many archived items are kept in a vault; the display includes the original Steelman sculpture and conceptual models of it from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. The Steelman was sculpted by Louise Lentz Woodruff and is positioned with its hands behind a male and female, symbolizing technology advancing humans. It is surrounded by the original relief panels representing the basic sciences: astronomy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, medicine, and geology. It has long been considered good luck to rub the right knee of the male before any test or sporting events; therefore, the knee has been worn away and reconstituted over the years.

After finishing a new parking lot in 2007, Central began constructing a Field House over the parking lot. In October 2008, the Field House was completed.

Athletics

In sports, the district had combined teams between Joliet West and Joliet Central that was collectively known as "Joliet Township." However, the schools separated and now have two athletics. The program is a member of the Southwest Suburban Conference (SWSC) and the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). In this combined form the Steelmen/Steelwomen name which continues to be used by Joliet Central when it competes alone, is used for the combined teams. Joliet Central is the headquarters for the combined athletic program.

The athletic department sponsors interscholastic teams for young men and women in basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, and volleyball. Young men may compete in baseball, football, and wrestling, while young women may compete in badminton, cheerleading, and softball. While not sponsored by the IHSA, the school sponsors a poms team.

The following teams finished in the top four of their respective IHSA sponsored state championship tournament:

• Baseball: 2nd place (1974–75)
• Basketball (boys): 4th place (1994–95); 3rd place (1969–70); State Champions (1936–37)
• Golf (boys): 2nd place (1951–52)
• Softball: State Champions (1999–2000)
• Track & Field (boys): 4th place (1905–06, 14–15); 2nd place (1931–32); State Champions (1915–16)
• Track & Field (girls): 4th place (1993–94)
• Wrestling: 4th place (1946–47, 47–48); 2nd place (1985–86); State Champions (1984–85)
• Football: State Champions (1961–62) ; (1962–63)

During the 2008–2009 school year, Central and West began to separate their football programs, causing the West mascot to become the Tiger again, leaving Central as the Steelmen. The split began with Joliet's freshmen football team dividing. By the 2010–2011 school year, Joliet Central and Joliet West will have their own football teams. All of the other sports have divided too.

Notable alumni

Katherine Dunham

John Houbolt

Robert Novak

• Jesse Barfield (1977) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder (1981–92), playing most of his career with the Toronto Blue Jays. He won two Gold Gloves and one Silver Slugger.
• Garland Buckeye, former MLB player (Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, New York Giants)
• Lois Delander (1931) was, while a student at the school, the first woman to win the Miss Illinois pageant. She then became Miss America 1927.
• Katherine Dunham (1926) was a dancer, choreographer, civil rights activist, teacher, and anthropologist who was a pioneer in African-American modern dance, dance ethnology. In 1983, she was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor.
• Merritt Giffin (1908) was an athlete who won a silver medal in the men's discus throw at the 1908 Summer Olympics.
• John D. Goeken is a telecommunications entrepreneur who founded MCI Inc., FTD Mercury Network, Airfone, and In-Flight Phone Corporation. His lawsuit against AT&T eventually led to its divestiture of its Bell company holdings.
• Kathryn Hays (1952) is an actress, perhaps best known for her role as Kim Sullivan Hughes on the soap opera As the World Turns (1972–2010).
• John Houbolt (1936) is a former aerospace engineer who fought for and developed the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR) plan for transporting astronauts to and from the moon.
• Mort Kondracke (1956) is a political journalist who has written independently, and for such periodicals as Roll Call. He is also known for his long running appearance as a regular panelist on The McLaughlin Group.
• Harry Daniel Leinenweber is a U.S. federal judge (1985–present) serving on the bench of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
• Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (1951) is an award winning author of children's and young adult literature (Shiloh, the Alice series, The Witch Saga).
• Robert Novak (1948) was a political journalist, writer, and television personality. He was known for his long writing and television relationship with Rowland Evans (Evans, Novak, Hunt & Shields).
• Lionel Richie (attended) is an award winning singer, songwriter, and record producer who was a member of the Commodores before starting a solo career. (All Night Long (All Night), Say You, Say Me, Hello); he graduated from Joliet East in 1967.
• Larry Parks (1932) was an Academy Award nominated actor (The Jolson Story). He testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and was blacklisted in Hollywood as a consequence.
• Roger Powell, Jr. was a University of Illinois basketball player whose team reached the 2005 NCAA tournament championship game. His father Roger Powell was a Joliet Central star who played basketball for Illinois State.
• George E. Sangmeister was a U.S. Representative (1989–95).
• Trina Shoemaker (1983) is a 3–time Grammy Award winning record producer and sound engineer.
• James J. Stukel (1955) was the 15th president of the University of Illinois.
• Bill Sudakis is a former MLB player (Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, California Angels, Cleveland Indians)
• Edwin Way Teale (1918) was a naturalist, journalist, and writer. He won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for the book Wandering Through Winter.
• Lynne Thigpen (1966) was an actress with credits on film (Bicentennial Man), television (Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?), and stage. She won a Tony Award in 1997 for her role in the play An American Daughter.
• Jermaine Stegall (1995) is an award winning movie/television composer.
• Audrey Totter (1936), actress

External links

• Official website